Wigs are traditionally displayed in stores selling the same on support means which usually but not essentially are shaped in the size and dimensions of a human head which may be a male or female representation. This displays the properties of the wig in a satisfactory manner but does not convey to the individual purchaser how the wig would look upon said purchaser's head. Hereinbelow female terminology will be utilized for the purchaser, however, it is contemplated that the device is equally applicable to male purchasers of wigs.
One obvious mode of determining the appearance of a wig upon the head of the prospective purchaser is for said purchaser to place the wig upon her head. Since wigs are direct body contact items of apparel many purchasers would object to wigs which have been worn albeit briefly by other persons because of fear of unsanitary conditions on the head of unknown previous wearers. One attempted solution to this problem has been to place a plane mirror in the face of a wig mannequin, that is to say, a head constructed of wood, plastic, cardboard, or similar material in the shape of a human head, suitably having a neck attached thereto as a support means. Utilizing such devices a wig to be purchased is placed on the mannequin and the purchaser views herself in the mirror to determine the appearance upon her head.
Although such devices do meet the sanitary part of the problem they are not satisfactory with respect to the "image" part of the problem. The reason for the unsatisfactory nature of the solution lies in the fact that in a plane mirror the image appears to be as far behind the reflective surface of the mirror as the reflected object, that is to say, the face, is in front of it. From a practical point of view, the prospective purchaser cannot sit with her face more than about 10 inches from the mirror since at closer distances the eye cannot take in a view of the major portion of the wig which can be viewed from the front. On the other hand, the purchaser cannot sit more than about 20 inches or an arm's length away from the device since certain adjustments to the lie of the fibers of the wig would always be made during the viewing process.
Unfortunately, at this distance from the mirror the difference between the angle subtended at the purchaser's eye of the outline of her face in the mirror is substantially less than it would be if the image of her face were at the plane of the mirror. The laws of optics offer no solution with respect to a plane mirror to this undesirable occurrence. The fact that the angle subtended is too small means that the wig is not viewed in proper proportion to the face and a correct judgement as to the appearance of the wig on the head of the prospective purchaser cannot be made. It would therefore be desirable to provide such a device wherein the angle subtended by the viewed image at the purchaser's eye is equal or substantially equal to the angle subtended by an image at the plane of the mirror (in this particular instance the term "plane of the mirror" should be considered generally as defining the place where a face would normally be under the wig).
It is well known in optics that a concave mirror wherein an object is place at a distance closer than the focus from the surface of said mirror will provide an upright and enlarged image, however this knowledge does not offer a readily theoretically calculable solution to the problem.